Lubricating composition



Patents ct. 3T1, l g

' G COMPOSITFGN Carl F. Prutton,

to The East Cleveland, Ohio, Lubri-Zol Corporation,

assignor @leveland,

Ohio, a corporation of (Milo No Drawing.

Application January 5, 1937,

Serial No. 119,132

5 Claims.

This application is a continuation in part of my co-pending application, Serial No. 737,070,

filed July 26, 1934.

This invention relates as indicated to certain properties not possessed by any previously available lubricant, as well as to certain previously known general types of lubricants which, according to this invention, are so improved that they may be advantageously employed for purposes for which they heretofore have not been practically useful.

A particular property-required by many lubricants used today is an ability to prevent seizure and scoring of relatively moving metallic surfaces operating under extremely high pressures per unit area, in many cases considerably in excess of 10,000 pounds per square inch. Pressures on this order have long been encountered in the metal working industry, particularly in die drawing, sheet metal forming, etc. Lubricants for such uses have generally contained appreciable amounts of certain materials which are decidedly corrosive to the metals with which they have been used. Although dies had frequently to .be replaced, such corrosion has been tolerated in order to achieve extreme pressure lubrication and could be tolerated only because the relatively moving metallic surfaces lubricated did not operate in contact with each other for any length of time and accordingly there was no appreciable corrosion of the surfaces of the material being Worked.

Most, if not all, of the presently known extreme pressure addition agents employed in lubricants rely upon one form or physico-chemical action between the addition agent and the relatively moving surfaces for the desired extreme pressure efiect.

It is generally true that those addition agents which most greatly improve the extreme pressure characteristics of the lubricant are likewise the most chemically active. The sole fact that an addition agent very greatly improves the extreme pressure characteristics of the resultant composition does not in itself, therefore, render such addition agent desirable for all uses since its general corrosive character may, by far, outweigh the beneficial effect of the same in imparting extreme pressure characteristics.

When a lubricant is used in the crank case or even the gear cases of automobiles and the like, such lubricant must not be normally chemically active in any substantial degree. 55 lubricant will either -0therwise the destroy or at least render 0 new lubricating compositions having desirable another of chemical orinoperative in a very short time the very mechanism it is desired to protect. As above pointed out, if the lubricant is to possess extreme pressure characteristics it must, however, under the conditions imposed by extreme pressures in use, be chemically or physico-chemica'lly active to a degree on the bearing surfaces in order to prevent seizure and scoring of such surfaces.

In my issued Patent No. 1,986,651 I have provided one solution to this problem, by pointing 9 out that the general stability of the halogenated carbon ring compounds is such that under ordinary conditions they will not hydrolize and cause undesirable corrosion but nevertheless under conditions of extreme pressure and relative move- 1 ment of the bearing surfaces they are sufliciently active to provide the desired extreme pressure characteristics.

As above indicated, there are numerous materials which, on account of their chemical activity, are very effective in imparting extreme pressure characteristics to a in the past have such purpose, particularly when which they are employed is to be used in gear boxes and crank cases, and for the very reason of their chemical activity.

In the present-day-processes for the refining of mineral lubricating oils to render the same useful under all conditions generally encountered in the field it is customary to carry such refining processes to considerable length in order to insure the removal from the finished lubricant of minor amounts of naturally occurring components which, if not removed, would render the oil un- 5' desirably corrosive. These refining processes necessary to thus insure the removal of all or substantially all of the naturally occurring corrosive components generally result, however, in a simultaneous removal or destruction of certain '40 other valuable components in the oil, the absence or destruction of which materially decreases the efficiency and life of the lubricating composition.

In addition, in the case of solvent-refined lubricating oils there sometimes remain small amounts of corrosive re-agents in the oils and certain naturally occurring corrosion inhibitors have been removed. All such refining processes are expensive. 60

It may also be desired to add certain corrosive organic compounds to lubricants to act as pourpoint depressors, anti-oxidants, agents to improve oiliness, etc. The advent of a suitable corrosion inhibitor thus greatly enlarges the field of. oppor- .but in such manner v about 99% of tunity to improve lubricants in a wide variety of ways.

It is a principal object of this invention, therefore, to provide a. lubricating composition which employs to advantage the desirable characteristics of the lubricants or lubricant addition agents and in such form that the previously mentioned undesirable characteristics thereof are either entirely eliminated or reduced to such an extent as to be no longer objectionable.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a lubricating composition containing a combination of addition agents in which the eifect of. at least one of such addition agents is to negative the undesirable characteristics of the other and at the same time cooperate therewith to improve to an erties.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a lubricating composition which employs as its primary constituent or base a lubricant or oil which heretofore'has not been usable as such except upon extensive refinement, thus obtaining a final composition which is not only more economical to produce but which also has superior lubricating properties.-

Other objects of this invention will appear as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, this invention, then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description setting forth in detail certain approved combinations of ingredients embodying my invention, such disclosed means constituting, however, but certain of various forms in which the principle of the invention may be used.

This invention, broadly stated, comprises the use in lubricating compositions of suitable phosphorus-containing organic corrosion inhibitors which render useful for general lubricating exceptional degree its desirable proppurposes compositions which heretofore, due

The oil base The oil base, which in a lubricating composition formed in accordance with the present invention usually amounts to from about 80% to the total composition, may be any suitable lubricating oil such as a mineral lubricating oil derived from the refinement. of petroleum or any of the so-called non-mineral oils such as animal, vegetable and synthetic oils.

The oil base may be any of the previously mentioned oily materialsaeither in their naturally-occurring state or after the same have been treated by such methods as direct halogenation, more specifically chlorination, or by heating the same with materials such as sulphur and the like to produce a base material containing elements such as any of the halogens, more particularly chlorine, and sulphur and the like either in combined form as in the case of the halogenated oils or in the form of stable colloidal suspensions as in the case of certain compositions resulting from the heating with the oil of minor amounts of materials suchas sulphur.

This invention also relates to the type of lubricating compositions generally referred to as greases and-which contain appreciable amounts of .some thickening material such as soap.

The viscosity of the oil base will usually depend upon two principal factors, the first and most important of which is the use to which the finished lubricating composition will be placed, and of secondary importance is the effect of the particular addition agents employed upon the viscosity of the oil base. For most purposes a lubricating oil base having a low pour point and low rate of change in viscosity per degree of temperature change of the lubricant will be most desirable. However, in this connection it should be pointed out that certain of the addition agents contemplated in accordance with this invention are eifective to improve the cold test of most oils such as mineral lubricating oils so that When such addition agents are employed a base oil having a relatively poor cold test may, because of the improvements in cold test by addition agents, be entirely satisfactory foruse as a base in a composition according to this invention.

While the so-called non-mineral oils above identified which are intended to include such oily liquids as the fatty acids, oleic acid, etc., are generally not as desirable for composition as a mineral lubricating oil, nevertheless such non-mineral oils may be used to advantage as a, substitute for a. part of the mineral oil base particularly when certain properties usually resulting from the use of such non-mineral oils are desired. More specifically, this invention contemplates the employment of minor amounts of certain of the non-mineral oils as a part of the oil base, and accordingly a component of the final composition, in order to increase the oiliness factor of the flushed lubricant. While certain of the so-called non-mineral oils, as well as certain constituents which are sometimes found as naturally occurring components of mineral lubricating oils would normally be so corrosive as to prohibit their use in lubricants employed in crank cases or the like where high temperatures and pressures are encountered, nevertheless the addition of the corrosion inhibitors and stabilizers contemplated by this invention makes such components useful for these purposes.

The primary addition agent This class of components which may, within the contemplation of thisinvention, be added to and form a part of the finished lubricating composition is designated as that of primary addition agents for the reason that these materials are usually added for the purpose of providing the principal improvement or primary change in the base oil to which they are added. The characteristics of the resultant composition to the achievement of which these so-called'primary addition agents are added are generally extreme pressure characteristics, improved cold test, reduced sludge formation and the like. 1

The relatively unstable halogenated organic compounds which may be employed as addition agents in accordance with the present invention give up at least part of their combined halogen in some other way, are the halogenated, or more specifically, chlorinated open chain compounds, as well as certain of the less stable halogenated, or more specifically, chlorinated organic ring compounds, e. g., those formed by the addition reaction of an organic ring compound with a halogen.

By corrosive addition agents are generally meant such compounds as contain or will easily liberate a substancewhich will spontaneously react in a continuing manner at ordinary temperatures with such metals as are usually found in service. Free sulphur. hydrogen sulphide, free chlorine, and hydrogen chloride are typical examples of such active substances which may be thus released.

Although I do not intend this invention to be limited by any, explanation or theory of chemical action, the following is a brief exposition of the theory which best explains the ends obtained by this invention. It is believed that most corrosive action on metals is electrolytic, galvanic cells being set up by the metal and small amounts of impurities contained therein, or by the metals of an alloy, as on the surfaces of alloy bearings. A corrosion inhibitor, according to this invention, is therefore an agent which will form protective insulating films on anodic surfaces or will keep the immersion media at low oxygen concentrations in order to prevent depolarization of the deposited hydrogen which also provides a protective film. Organic phosphates are thought to inhibit galvanic action by forming protective films and amino compounds have the same effect by preventing the depolarization of deposited hydrogen. Phosphites probably have both'efiects and this may account for their outstanding merit as corrosion inhibitors.

Any of the commonly available halogenated open chain compounds such as the following are good examples of corrosive addition agents. They are desirable as extreme pressure addition agents and some also tend to lower the pour-point of the lubricant.

The aliphatic halogen compounds- CxClz, 9. g.:

CCls CzClc Cz'Cls CaHyClz, 8. g.'.

C2HC13 CzHCls (Cal-MCI) 2O CrvI-IssClzCOOH Halogenated complex petroleum products In addition to the halogenated open chain compounds, we have also found that halogenated organic ring compounds of the addition type, of which the following are examples, are likewise well-suited for use in compositions in accordance with this invention:

Addition type aromatic compounds CHC1 H01 CsI-IsClz CeHsCLi CsHsCls CizHicClO C12H9C12O ClZH'lClQO Ciel-160150 likewise certain halogen substitution products of which the following are examples are more or less porrosive:

Substitution type aromatic compounds Chlorbenzoic acid Chlornitrobenzene Benzyl chloride (CsHsCHzCl) Phenyl ethyl chloride (CeI-I5CH2CH2C1) Among the more or less corrosive organic sulphur compounds which are of especial advantage as extreme pressure addition agents the following are representative examples:

.Highly suiphurized polysulphides (where. more than two S atoms are in one chain) Sulphur chloride non-mineral Sulphurchloride treated fatty acids Also, the efiectiveness of free sulphur as an extreme pressure agent is well known.

The free fatty acids are examples of corrosive agents which are often desirable because they improve the oiliness: oleic, stearic, and naphthenic acids are good examples.

The amount of' extreme pressure addition agent of any type which may be added to the lubricant should not exceed about 20% by weight of the lubricating oil base since in most cases more would tend to unduly decrease the viscosity of the composition. For crank case lubrication about .1% to 2%, based-on the amount of oil, is

a preferred range and for gear lubrication about These limitations are also generally applicable treated oils, either mineral or to most of the types of addition agents commonly added to lubricating oils. It should be noted, however, that some compounds especially suitable for lowering the pour-point of lubricants need only be added in amounts considerably less than those indicated above.

The corrosion inhibitors These corrosion inhibitor components should be soluble or miscible in the oil base and compatible therewith. They described as follows:

may be classified and A. Organic compounds of phosphorus, such as esters of phosphorous and phosphoric acid, e. g.,

triphenyl phosphite tricresyl phosphite trilauryl 'phosphite tributyl phosphite triphenyl phosphate tricresyl phosphate trilauryl phosphate tributyl phosphate tri-(o-chlor phenyl) phosphite tri- (o-chlor phenyl) phosphate tri (chlor cresyl) phosphite tri- (chlor cresyl) phosphate chlor-butyl phosphites The organic phosphites have been found to beeffective and generally the most corrosion inhibitors. advantage of being pressure addition agents, and serve a double purpose.

lubricating composition in ac- Iny invention may comprise a 1113,30! proportion of a suitable oil' base of the character above defined and a total of an eflective amount up to 20% by weight, based on the amount of oil, of the previously named addition agents along with the necessary amount of the corrosion inhibiting agent. When the corrosion inhibiting agent is itself anextreme pressure addition agent, then a corresponding smaller amount of the corrosive agent need be added.

The ratio of corrosion inhibiting agent to corrosive addition agent will vary very greatly depending upon the relative activity of these two constituents. In general, the ratio may vary from among the most desirable of the the additional ood extreme therefore, may

In general, a

The addition components should of course be oil-soluble within the percentages contemplated by this invention. By oil-soluble is also meant Some of the more important uses of the vari- They have ous types of compounds disclosed in cation are the following:

(1) Metal drawing and forming operations (here the least stable and most corrosive compounds are permissible).

(2) Gears and bearings under conditions oi. extreme pressure (requires more stable materials than (1)). i

(3) Motor oil for internal combustion engines (the active materials should be more stable than in (2)). I

(4) Top cylinder lubricants (only where the active compounds are particularly stable).

Other modes invention may be employed instead of the one explained, change being made as regards the mastated ingredient or ingredients be employed. 1

I, therefore, particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. An extreme pressure lubricating composition comprising a major proportion of lubricating of such composition afl'ectphate having a vapor pressure less than atmospheric at 140? C.

2. An extreme pressure lubricating composipheric at 140 C.

3. An extreme pressure lubricating composition comprising a major ing oil with the properties of such composition metallic surface being lubricated,

this appli-.

of applying the principle of my proportion of lubricatof a phosphorus acid having a vapor pressure less than atmospheric at 140 C.

4. An extreme pressure lubricating composition comprising amajor proportion of lubricating oil with the properties of such composition affecting its use as an extreme pressure lubricant improved by incorporating therein a minor amount, based on the amount of lubricating oil,

.' of an oil soluble organic halogen compound hav-.

ing a vapor pressure less than atmospheric at 140 C. and a phosphorus-containing organic cork rosion inhibitor having a vapor pressure less than atmospheric at 140 C.

5. An extreme pressure lubricating composition comprising a major proportion of lubricating oil with the properties of such composition aifecting its use asan extreme pressure lubricant improved by incorporating therein a minor amount, based on the amount of lubrlcatingoil, of an oil soluble organic halogen compound having a vapor pressure less than atmospheric at 140 C. and an ester of a phosphorus acid having .a vapor pressure less than atmospheric at 140 C.

CARL F. PRUTI'ON. 

